Letter to the Editor: do UFOs exist?

For the last fifty years or more we have lived with the idea that flying saucers called UFOs might exist. Some believe aliens pilot them, coming from far away galaxies to observe us. We assume that since they have the ability to travel here, their civilization must be far more superior to ours. Over the years we have seen pictures purportedly taken of these UFOs and have heard accounts of traumatic abductions. However the pictures always seem to be of low quality and the stories of abductions usually involve people whose character might be dubious.

It dawned on me the other day that with the huge preponderance of cell phones in the world, which many are also cameras, we have a much better equipped force of earthly observers than ever before. I thought with all these cameras out there, shouldn't we be getting more and better quality pictures of UFOs? But then my kids straightened me out on this assumption. I was told jokingly that the aliens in the flying saucers would know all about the cameras and stay hidden now. I agreed, after all that makes sense, or possibly the aliens have finally employed a cloaking device for these very circumstances.

All kidding aside, there is a reason why we haven't been buried in pictures of UFOs. No matter how many cameras we have, we can't take pictures of something that only exists in people's minds.

Cultures have always needed something bigger than life to believe in.

The prospect of extraterrestrial life used to fill that bill for us. Now we have moved on. Instead of little green men to imagine and fret about, we have discovered Global Warming.